After the Snap
by Write-To-You
Summary: That mandatory Infinity-War fix-it, set post Thanos' defeat. NO ENDGAME SPOILERS! Nobody-Dies-Everybody-Lives of courseeee :)


**Author's Note: I WANT TO GO SEE ENDGAME OH. MY. GOSH D: D: I have to wait for my sister to come home from college tho blah :P **

**Buuuuut, I watched Infinity War last night to prepare for when I DO get to see Endgame, and then I realized I had never gotten around to writing a fix-it after the first time I saw it.**

**So here we are. Enjoy :D **

**(oh and btw I mostly stuck with cannon ships in this. There's some... kinda implied Romonagers I guess? And at this point I'm on the fence about Bucky/Steve so like you can take that how you want XD)**

In the aftermath of Thanos' defeat, it seemed like the entire world was filled with smoke.

The shockwave caused by the explosion that had finally brought around the end of the Titan must have travelled in a ring nearly the size of Texas. Hurricane-force winds bent trees and collapsed buildings, and the superheroes still on their feet were tossed forcefully back, rolling across the scarred ground.

When Steve Rodgers finally pulled himself to his feet, it was to see a large crater in the middle of what had once been a forest. Any trees, animals, or vegetation that had been there had long since been destroyed, however, by the battle and the explosion that ended it. He walked towards the center of the crater and knelt on the dust.

There was no sign of Thanos or the Gauntlet. But Steve's eye caught on six, milky-clear Stones, dull and insignificant and barely noticeable against the dirt. The Infinity Stones no longer glowed with the mysterious power that they had held for millennia. Now they just looked like the kind of rocks you swept carelessly out of your driveway.

Steve got to his feet. He knew that he should pick up the Stones, put them somewhere safe, just to make sure that they couldn't do any more harm. But he was sick of doing what he _should_ do. He didn't want to touch the Stones; he barely wanted to be on the same planet as them.

Natasha Romanov skidded slowly down the slanting edge of the dirt-crater towards him. "Heck of a boom, huh?" she commented dryly. "At least there aren't Thanos guts everywhere."

Steve nodded wordlessly. She was keeping a light note in her voice, but she looked tired. Steve reached over and put his hand on her shoulder. He was always surprised by how small she felt.

After a moment the two of them walked back up the crater. Bruce, Tony, Carol, Thor, and a few other of the fighters and heroes that still remained alive approached them.

Carol finally voiced what all of them were thinking as they stood in a sort-of circle, looking at one another. "So... we're thinking that we've reversed the effects, right? This should have brought back the half of the universe that was, um... disintegrated?"

"Theoretically, yeah," Bruce agreed.

"So, like..." Carol's eyes twitched slightly. "Where is everyone going to... show up? Right where they were erased?"

Tony rubbed the back of his neck and Steve shrugged. They all knew how bad that would be. People would be reappearing in the middle of busy streets, collapsed buildings, even in the middle of the air or the ocean if they had been in planes or boats at the time of the Snap.

"There's no real way to know," Bruce said. "I guess maybe we should get out of this forest and find out?"

"The Stones are..." Steve trailed off. "They seem to be dead."

"Grab them anyway," Tony said, nodding his chin at the crater. "Can't hurt to be too careful."

Natasha went to pick up the six burnt-out Stones, putting them in an inside pocket of her jacket. Then they all began to walk toward their transports to take them out of the war zone.

* * *

After the Snap, Peter Parker had opened his eyes to find himself in a red, hazy, completely empty place. There was water pooling on what he thought was the ground, ankle deep, but completely dry. It extended for as far as he could see. He thought it might extend forever.

He had thought, for a moment, that he was completely alone. The thought sent him into a sort of panic. It was one thing to be fully conscious in a world that he had never even known existed. But to be totally alone, too? At this point, he didn't even know if he was alive or not.

But then hazy figures began to appear around him. He saw Star Lord, the odd alien girl, the giant grey-and-red man, and that wizard guy (Doctor Strange?). There were more figures off in the distance, looking around in confusion. In fact, more and more people and aliens were appearing. The place had gone from completely empty to filled with bodies in less than a minute.

That had all been what felt like years ago. Peter couldn't possible tell how much time had passed since they had all arrived. There was no need for food, water, or sleep, and the lighting or sky never changed. In short, there was no way to tell how many days had gone by when people slowly started disappearing again.

Peter had gone for a walk, looking for people he knew. In fact, he hadn't stopped walking in what felt like a day. He was shocked to see people starting to vanish. It was like the Snap all over again. Now were they really going to die?

Fear, an emotion that he hadn't bothered to feel in a little while, took hold of him. Peter turned around (at least, he thought he did; it was a little hard to tell in this place) and began to sprint towards the spot he had last seen Star Lord, Doctor Strange, and the other members of his team. The strange dry water splashed up as his feet landed, spraying in front of him and up on the legs of his suit. He barely noticed.

Before Peter could make it anywhere, he felt the strange numbness that he had after the Snap, right before he disintegrated. He stopped suddenly, skidding in the water, and held his hand up in front of his face. In the dim red gloom, he could see his fingers slowly breaking apart. Peter fell to his knees, and dissolved into nothing.

When he opened his eyes this time, it was completely dark. He couldn't tell if his eyes were even actually open. He didn't know if he was standing, laying down, floating, sitting. Peter felt a spasm building in his arms and legs, panic crushing his chest. He wasn't even sure that he was moving when he did. He couldn't feel anything.

_'__Peter Parker' _

Peter let out a gasp and looked desperately around for the source of the voice.

_'__Where do you wish to go?'_

Peter struggled to figure out what was going on. "Where do I- huh? I don't understand."

_'__Where do you wish to go?'_

"Uh... home?"

_'__Understood.'_

Forehead wrinkling in confusion, Peter let out a yelp as he was suddenly whisked along at a breakneck pace. He was moving so fast that air couldn't make it into his mouth. He was sure that spots would be sparking in front of his eyes, if he could see anything but black as it was.

Right as he thought he might pass out, he found himself in bed. Peter sat up with a gasp, chest heaving. Was it- could it have been-

But no. It wasn't a dream. He was still in a his teched-over Spider-Man suit. He still had alien dirt caked into his skin. But he was home. He was _alive_.

"Aunt May!" Peter yelled, throwing himself out of his bed. "Aunt May!"

His aunt was standing at the sink, staring out the window. She let out a faint scream when she saw her nephew. "Peter!"

He dove into her arms, hugging her so tightly that she had to wiggle a little to be able to breathe.

"I was so worried," Aunt May murmured, holding him tight. "People were disappearing right off the streets. And the school called and- and said you had somehow left the field trip- that you weren't on the bus... I knew it must have had something to do with that giant spaceship that touched down."

Peter nodded, forehead smushing into her shoulder. He wasn't ready to talk about it yet. But he knew what he needed to do.

"I need to go," he said, pulling back reluctantly. "I need to see if everyone's okay."

* * *

Wakanda had been ravaged, but it's people were confident that it would make a full recovery. The Avengers that were left found T'Challa sitting on the front steps of the main building, his arms around Shuri.

"Nice to see that you all survived," he greeted. He was still in his Black Panther suit, but the mask was down. Shuri gave them a surprisingly cheerful wave.

Steve broke into a grin, and clapped T'Challa's shoulder as he stood up to give them all hugs. His and Shuri's presence told them what they had so hoped to find out: the people who had disintegrated were still alive.

"What happened?" Natasha asked, hurrying over. "How did you guys come back?"

"It was... strange," T'Challa admitted, glancing at his sister. In a few rapid sentences, he explained the red, hazy world, the dark room, and the ride through blackness toward home.

"But everyone was disappearing around you?" Steve confirmed, looking around him hopefully. "Everyone's coming back?"

_"__Steve!"_

Steve spun around, eyes going wide. None other than Bucky Barnes was running up the torn-up, grassy hill to their left. Steve rushed forward and grabbed him in a hug.

Bucky's hands clapped on to his back. "Aw man, it's good to see you alive," he said, pulled back after a long moment and gripping Steve's shoulder.

"It's good to see _you_ alive," Steve chuckled. He put an arm around his best friend's shoulders in a half hug and lead him back over to the group.

Tony looked on at all of them as if from a distance. Clint had his arm around Natasha and both of them were smiling. Bruce was talking with Shuri. Bucky and Steve were both still grinning at each other, laughing had something Thor had said. How they could all seem so _happy_ was beyond him.

Tony wondered where Peter was. He felt, as he knew he should, the overwhelming, chest-crushing guilt of having let the kid down. He wondered if Pepper was still alive. He wondered how worried they both were.

There was a sudden, incredibly loud, engine noise from up in the air. Everyone, still on high alert, jumped to attention and spun around, prepared to fight more aliens in allegiance with Thanos. Instead, Tony's eyes blew wide to see the _Stark Industries_ logo pasted across the side of an aerodynamic silver jet. It touched down in seconds and three people got out. Tony felt a grin starting on his face. He suddenly saw how everyone else on his team could be so happy.

"MR. STARK!" Peter yelled, throwing himself out of the jet and charging up the hill. Happy got out of the jet after him and helped Pepper down. Even in a crisis, she managed to look flawless.

Before Tony could say a word, Peter had barreled into him and wrapped his arms around his neck. Tony hugged him back, a response he wasn't used to having.

"Uh, hey," Peter said, pulling back after a few seconds and ducking his head with slight embarrassment. "Could that be- was that a hug?"

"Yeah, kid," Tony told him fondly, messing up his hair with a hand on top of his head. "That was a hug."

Pepper had made it up the hill. Tony pulled her into his arms but she shoved back and promptly slapped him in the face. "Ow!" Tony yelled as her hand hit a bruise. "That was unnecessary."

"No," Pepper said, glaring at him. "What was unnecessary was you leaving through a sparkling hole with a wizard to go fight a Titan after you had promised me _no more surprises_. And you stood me up for dinner."

"I told you we might have to reschedule!" Tony protested, giving her one of his most endearing grins. "I'm glad you're okay, Pep."

"Yeah," she mumbled, finally letting him hug her. "You too."

* * *

Peter Quill had disintegrated like many members of his team. He had also been around when people started vanishing from the Red World. And when he had also vanished, and had been taken into darkness, he had only asked for one thing:

"_Take me to Gamora_."

So now he found himself slowly sitting up, surrounded by craggy rocks and with a giant cliff face looming high above his head. Purple mist hung everywhere, clinging to his skin. When he finally sat up all the way, he caught sight of a body lying next to him.

Gamora was broken. Her legs were bent at odd angles and her eyes were hollow and empty like the burnt-out Infinity Stones. Oddly enough, however, there wasn't any blood. Peter was glad of it. He was also glad that her body hadn't seemed to have decomposed like normal either. He wasn't sure if he would have been able to take it.

Trembling, Peter crawled over the rocks and knelt down at Gamora's side. Even though she hadn't started decomposing yet, she was still icy to the touch and her fingers were stiff when he took her hand. He felt a tear roll down his nose and it landed on her face without a sound. He had already lost so much in his life. He wasn't sure if he could handle losing her, too.

Half a galaxy away, Natasha looked down as her pocket began to vibrate. For a second her eyebrows crunched, trying to figure out what was going on. Then, with a sudden burst of heat, a hole burned straight through the material of her pocket. Everyone froze as the dead Soul Stone suddenly regained it's blazing orange color and floating into the air.

"Are you kidding me right now?" Tony groaned, his arm around Pepper's shoulders. "We _just defeated_ these things. I'm not ready for a rematch!"

Natasha scrambled in her pocket for the other five Infinity Stones. They were still dead. "I don't understand.." she muttered as the Stone shot into the atmosphere and vanished through the clouds.

Steve reached up and rubbed his forehead. "Well, I guess if we hear that New York has collapsed on itself for, what? the sixth time? Then we'll know why."

In truth, the Soul Stone wasn't going to destroy New York, or anywhere else for that matter. It was flying at an impossible speed toward it's resting place, the planet Vormir. It found Gamora in the same position it had left her, though this time Peter was by her side.

He looked up, startled, when the Infinity Stone headed down for land. It shone for a minute, glowing above Gamora and sending a glinting orange light across her skin. Then it plunged into her chest.

"No-!" Peter yelled instinctively, even though Gamora was already dead and it probably couldn't get much worse than that.

But instead of doing more harm, Gamora began to glow a faint orange. A light surrounded her and Peter had to stumble back, shielding his eyes. When the light faded, Gamora was still lying on the rocks. But her legs were straight, her eyes closed, and...

_Her chest was rising and falling_.

Peter fell back to his knees. "Gamora," he said, shaking her. "Gamora!"

Gamora let out a gasp and shot to a sitting position. Her eyes flew open and for a second they were streaked with orange, before fading back to their normal color. She slumped and Peter wrapped her up in his arms. He was truly, legitimately crying for what felt like the first time since he had become Star Lord.

He didn't care.

Neither of them were exactly sure what had just happened, but all that mattered was that Gamora was alive.

* * *

It wasn't long before a second Infinity Stone had started glowing again. It happened when the Avengers had collected themselves and were eating everything they could find out of Tony's fridge, spread across couches, windowsills, chairs, and the floor.

Wanda was sitting on a wide windowsill, her eyes red and puffy, holding a mug of tea. The tea was cold, having been made at 5 that morning. It hadn't moved since, and neither had Wanda.

Everyone had gotten their happy ending. And Wanda, who had already lost more than she could bare- her parents, her freedom, her _brother_\- had now lost the love of her life, too.

"Come back to me, Vision." Wanda whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek and plopping into the mug. Wanda leaned her head back against the window frame and shut her eyes. That was why she didn't see the odd spectacle occurring in the middle of the living room just a few moments later.

The five remaining Infinity Stones were now being stored in a complicated lock box. Bruce had made sure everything was in order and then put the box on the coffee table in the center of the living room, unsure of what else to do with it. Pepper had protested that it didn't go with the room decor, but even she had been forced to admit that after so many hard months the Avengers deserved to have their trophy on display.

Tony was halfway through his second cold chicken sandwich when a quarter sized spot in the metal box began to glow red. In seconds, the red turning to a bubbling hole and the golden Mind Stone rose out.

"What in the world-?" Pepper started.

Steve rubbing his forehead. "The Soul Stone did something like this earlier. We don't know why."

The Stone hovered for a moment before spinning off, away from the living room. Tony got to his feet. "I'll be right back," he excused himself, before hurrying out of the room after the Stone.

A few nervous glances were exchanged. If the last few months had taught the Avengers anything, it was that there was strength and safety in numbers. And comfort.

As Tony went after the Mind Stone, he had a good idea of where it was going. Or, at least, he was hopeful that that was where it was going.

Visions body had been found in the forest after the snap, a hole in his forehead and his colors drained. Tony had brought him back to his safe house when he had gotten back to Earth and laid him in his lab. He supposed he was still hopeful that he'd somehow be able to fix Vision back into the half-man he had been before Thanos stole the Mind Stone.

He broke into a run when he finally caught sight of his lab. There was a glowing golden force hanging in the air around one of the tables and as Tony skidded into the room, he could see a figure being wrapped in light.

When the glare cleared, Vision was standing, looking almost regal in his red and blue and gold. The Mind Stone glinted on his forehead for a moment before sinking into his head, vanishing from sight. Like Gamora, Vision's eyes were strained with gold. And then all the light vanished and he was left looking normal.

Slowly, the robotic part of him faded and Vision transformed into his human side. Tony let out a whoop and clapped his shoulder. "Welcome back," he grinned, before sobering up to his usual level of cool. "Now, uh, there's a woman upstairs who's been staining my windowsill with tears so..."

Vision nodded and raced passed him, up the stairs and into the living room. Tony heard a cry, then a thump. When he made it back upstairs himself, he found Wanda lying crumpled in front of the windowsill in a dead faint.

Vision looked concerned and a little confused. "Maybe I... shouldn't have just walked in? Is this the kind of thing where you text first? She's always trying to explain those moments to me."

Clint laughed outright and clapped his hand to Vision's shoulder in a similar way to how Tony had. "No man, she's just surprised. Give her a second."

"Wanda?" Vision murmured, putting his hand on her cheek. "My love, are you there?"

"Vis...?" Wanda mumbled, eyelids flickering. Then she sat up with a gasp and threw herself into Visions arms.

He smiled over the top of her head at the rest of the Team, and they looked back at him with mirroring expressions of happiness. Somehow, even after facing Thanos and impossible odds, they had made it out alive.

**Author's Note: Yooo that was honestly really fun :D I'm hoping to maybe write some more Avengers fanfics? I'll probably need to do a fix-it after Endgame haha... MAY 9TH I'M COMING FOR YOU :O**


End file.
